{ "schemaVersion": 2, "updatedAt": "2026-10-11T08:00:00-04:00", "kicker": "Thesis, support, documentation", "title": "The other school is a dish on the roof.", "axis": "local kid, parent, trades, in-person | central the dish, the tutor, the four-year portal", "clips": [ { "beat": "college", "where": "Utah", "date": "2026-10-06", "headline": "Utah counts 8,055 people waiting for technical college seats.", "deck": "Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 6: the Utah Board of Higher Education published its first official waitlist count for the state's 11 technical colleges. It lists 5,634 adults and 2,421 high school students who could not get in, about 2,244 full-time equivalents. Davis Technical College in Kaysville has the longest line. Enrollment has held near 40,914 a year for five years, so demand is outrunning the seats.", "sourceName": "Salt Lake Tribune", "sourceUrl": "https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2026/10/06/waitlists-get-into-utahs-technical/" }, { "beat": "college", "where": "US", "date": "2026-10-05", "headline": "Newsweek tests whether the four-year degree still pays.", "deck": "Newsweek, Oct. 5: the College Board puts a year at a private nonprofit college at $65,470 all in, and an in-state public four-year at $30,990. The Bureau of Labor Statistics still shows bachelor's holders earning a median $1,578 a week against $966 for high school graduates. But the New York Fed puts recent-graduate unemployment at about 5.6 percent this spring, with 42 percent working jobs that do not need the degree.", "sourceName": "Newsweek", "sourceUrl": "https://www.newsweek.com/is-college-still-worth-it-12517598" }, { "beat": "college", "where": "US", "date": "2026-10-05", "headline": "Community colleges post record fall enrollment.", "deck": "Community College Daily, Oct. 5: Texarkana College enrolled more than 5,100 students, beating a record set in 2009. Northwest Iowa Community College passed 2,000 for only the second time. Johnston Community College in North Carolina topped 7,000 degree-seeking students on the first day, with full-time-equivalent enrollment up 16 percent. Tennessee's 13 community colleges rose 1.9 percent overall, though four lost students.", "sourceName": "Community College Daily", "sourceUrl": "https://www.ccdaily.com/2026/10/enrollments-continue-to-increase-at-many-community-colleges/" }, { "beat": "college", "where": "US", "date": "2026-09-30", "headline": "Jobs for the Future says the trades need 1.7 million workers a year.", "deck": "Jobs for the Future, Sept. 30: employers will need to fill about 1.7 million skilled-trades openings a year. Nearly one in four of those workers is 55 or older. Formal pathways prepare about 55 people for every 100 needed. Of every 100 people who start an apprenticeship, 48 finish, and 29 are working in a trade within five years. Most counselors call trade school credible. Only 54 percent often recommend it.", "sourceName": "Jobs for the Future", "sourceUrl": "https://www.jff.org/idea/the-state-of-americas-skilled-trades/" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "US", "date": "2026-10-06", "headline": "Starlink cuts the Mini dish to $149.", "deck": "Mobile Internet Resource Center, Oct. 6: Starlink now sells the Mini, its portable satellite dish, for $149 direct, down from $199 and its lowest outright price yet. Starlink's own email calls $249 the typical price, and Best Buy and Home Depot still charge that. No end date is listed. A Roam plan is still required, from $55 a month.", "sourceName": "Mobile Internet Resource Center", "sourceUrl": "https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/starlink-mini-drops-to-its-lowest-price-yet-at-just-149/" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "US / global", "date": "2026-10-04", "headline": "Starlink charges $6 a gigabyte past 12 miles from shore.", "deck": "Mobile Internet Resource Center guide, rechecked Oct. 4: Roam 100GB is still $55 and 300GB is still $80, both limited to the home country. Unlimited is still $175, with 30 days abroad. Ocean Mode, the add-on past 12 nautical miles, is listed at $6 a gigabyte. The charge applies to all use until the customer turns it off.", "sourceName": "Mobile Internet Resource Center", "sourceUrl": "https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/guides/starlink-rv-boat/" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "UK / Indonesia", "date": "2026-10-09", "headline": "A Welsh family sells its house to school three children on the road.", "deck": "BBC Wales, Oct. 9: Dani and Tom Wooldridge, a nurse and a builder, sold their home and businesses in May and flew one way to Indonesia with children aged 12, 7 and 4. They follow the UK curriculum from a bag of textbooks. Their daughter has an online maths tutor, a former head of maths at her old school. On Lombok the children attend a worldschooling centre. Malaysia is next, with no end date.", "sourceName": "BBC", "sourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm75pldpzrv5o" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "US", "date": "2026-10-10", "headline": "A military family lives in an RV to pay off debt.", "deck": "Business Insider, Oct. 10: Haylea and Ryan Rossi left housing behind after his military service, when his remote job as an independent insurance adjuster sent them to Colorado for six months. They bought an RV, then kept moving. Haylea homeschools their two children, 12 and 10, at the kitchen island. Ryan has a desk carved out of the couch. They travel mostly in spring and fall.", "sourceName": "Business Insider", "sourceUrl": "https://www.businessinsider.com/family-of-4-lives-in-rv-full-time-2026-10" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "Colorado", "date": "2026-10-09", "headline": "Colorado weighs strict rules for publicly funded homeschool classes.", "deck": "Chalkbeat, Oct. 9: Colorado approved only 14 of 54 homeschool enrichment programs this summer, after the programs cost the state nearly $100 million last year. The State Board of Education takes up permanent rules on Oct. 15. The drafts bar public money for ski lessons, private piano lessons and loaded debit cards, cap paid field trips at two a semester, and limit classes to 16 hours a week. One option lets only districts and charter schools run the programs.", "sourceName": "Chalkbeat", "sourceUrl": "https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2026/10/09/state-decisions-on-home-school-enrichment-and-new-rules/" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "New York", "date": "2026-10-06", "headline": "A New York senator files bills to tighten homeschool approvals.", "deck": "Daily Gazette, Oct. 6: after the deaths of the Harmon children in Mechanicville, state Sen. Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, introduced two bills. One bars districts from approving homeschooling while a parent is under a child-abuse investigation, has a substantiated case, or has a domestic violence conviction. The other orders a district review, within 60 days, for children who missed at least 20 percent of school before leaving.", "sourceName": "Daily Gazette", "sourceUrl": "https://www.dailygazette.com/news/education/ny-homeschooling-bills-mechanicville/article_a1493f36-87c2-4e6f-994c-8c48376f4193.html" }, { "beat": "road", "where": "US", "date": "2026-10-01", "headline": "Treasury proposes a federal scholarship credit for 2027.", "deck": "Treasury, Oct. 1: proposed rules for a scholarship tax credit that starts Jan. 1, 2027. A donor may claim up to $1,700 a year, or $3,400 on a joint return, for cash given to a scholarship group. Secretary Scott Bessent said 30 states have opted in. Treasury estimates about 96 percent of children in those states would qualify. The Associated Press reported that officials said families could spend the money on private school and homeschooling. Treasury's published fact sheet names tuition, tutoring, books, and computers, and does not say homeschool.", "sourceName": "U.S. Department of the Treasury", "sourceUrl": "https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0641" } ], "resources": [ { "group": "Satellite internet", "name": "Starlink Roam", "url": "https://starlink.com/roam", "note": "Living price list. October 2026: 100GB about $55, 300GB about $80, Unlimited about $175. The Mini is the portable dish, $149 direct as of Oct. 6. Open sky required." }, { "group": "Satellite internet", "name": "Starlink for RV and boat -- Mobile Internet Resource Center", "url": "https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/guides/starlink-rv-boat/", "note": "Mounts, 12V, in-motion, what a Mini actually draws. Rechecked Oct. 4, 2026. Monthly roam prices unchanged. Ocean Mode listed at $6 a gigabyte." }, { "group": "Satellite internet", "name": "Starlink for van life, 2026 -- The Wayward Home", "url": "https://www.thewaywardhome.com/starlink-mobile-internet/", "note": "Trees, the 30-day cap, Mini vs Standard, what July changed." }, { "group": "The school", "name": "HSLDA -- homeschool law by state", "url": "https://hslda.org/legal", "note": "Physical presence is the test, not the address on the registration." }, { "group": "The school", "name": "Homeschooling around the world, 2026", "url": "https://www.starpathlearning.com/library/homeschooling-around-the-world", "note": "Permissive: US, UK, most of Canada/Australia/NZ. Restricted or banned: Germany, Sweden, much of the Middle East. Check before you book the flight." }, { "group": "The school", "name": "Khan Academy", "url": "https://www.khanacademy.org/", "note": "Free PreK-12. Math spine or supplement. Khanmigo is extra." }, { "group": "The school", "name": "Khan World School @ ASU Prep", "url": "https://asuprep.asu.edu/khan-world-school/about-us/", "note": "Accredited 6-12, live seminars. About $10,500/year for US students outside Arizona." }, { "group": "The school", "name": "Alpha School / Alpha Anywhere", "url": "https://alpha.school/", "note": "The campus the Journal wrote up, and the homeschool software that tries to bottle it. Named so you can see the central option. SF tuition $75,000; NYC Founders School $150,000." }, { "group": "College vs not", "name": "Georgetown CEW -- ranking colleges by ROI", "url": "https://cew.georgetown.edu/", "note": "Useful if you want the ten-year numbers instead of a speech." }, { "group": "College vs not", "name": "National Student Clearinghouse current term", "url": "https://nscresearchcenter.org/", "note": "Where students actually enrolled this term, including vocational two-years and computer science." }, { "group": "The road", "name": "What worldschooling is", "url": "https://parentingandpassports.com/what-is-worldschooling/", "note": "A definition plus the income problem. Get the remote job before you leave." }, { "group": "The road", "name": "Worldschooling family options, 2026", "url": "https://globalschoolguide.com/blog/nomad-family-school-options/", "note": "US diploma vs IGCSE vs IB online. Dual-income remote is the usual engine." } ], "thesis": "Families are leaving ordinary school for a remote paycheck, a laptop in the morning, and an afternoon that is not a fluorescent hallway. The $65,000-$75,000 AI campus is a different product. The road version is cheaper and easier to break. You still rent the satellite link, the lessons, and the diploma from someone else, and the law that counts is the law of the dirt you are standing on.", "claims": [ { "claim": "The road exit is real, and it is not the Alpha campus.", "because": "San Francisco Standard, Sept. 16: Alpha's Marina campus charges $75,000; a New York Founders School opened at $150,000. The kitchen-table version is a different bill." }, { "claim": "Satellite internet can end the year from a support page.", "because": "Mobile Internet Resource Center guide, rechecked Oct. 4: Roam 100GB is still about $55 and 300GB about $80, both home-country only. Unlimited is still about $175 and works abroad 30 days at a time. Ocean Mode, past 12 nautical miles, is listed at $6 a gigabyte and stays on until switched off. The Mini dish fell to $149 on Oct. 6, so the hardware is cheap. The monthly plan is the bill that lasts." }, { "claim": "College is not dead. Weak degrees at weak prices are.", "because": "Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 6: Utah counts 8,055 people waiting for technical college seats. Newsweek, Oct. 5: bachelor's holders still earn a median $1,578 a week against $966, but recent-graduate unemployment is about 5.6 percent and 42 percent are underemployed. Jobs for the Future, Sept. 30: about 55 prepared workers for every 100 skilled-trades openings." }, { "claim": "Leaving the building does not mean leaving a vendor.", "because": "Colorado approved 14 of 54 publicly funded homeschool programs and takes up permanent rules on Oct. 15 (Chalkbeat, Oct. 9). A New York senator filed bills to block homeschooling for parents under abuse investigation (Daily Gazette, Oct. 6). Treasury proposed a federal scholarship credit for 2027 and said 30 states have opted in (Oct. 1). The public money comes with a rulebook. SpaceX sells the dish. Khan or Alpha sells the morning." } ], "leaving": [ "Get a job that still pays when you are not in town. Then leave.", "Read the homeschool law of the place you will park, not the old address.", "Name the morning school and its bill: Khan (free), accredited online (~$10k), or Alpha Anywhere (paused).", "If the month only works when nothing breaks, do not sell the house." ], "out": [ "Roam 100GB and 300GB are domestic only. Unlimited is 30 days abroad. Open-ocean data is $6 a gigabyte and stays on until you switch it off.", "Mini needs open sky. Trees and batteries still win. Keep cellular backup.", "A month in another US state while school is in session is not a holiday from the file.", "Two hours of lessons, then go outside. That was the point." ], "facts": [ { "term": "Work", "fact": "One parent (often two) already billing remotely. Hope is not a traveling job." }, { "term": "Satellite internet", "fact": "Starlink Roam. Mini to move, Standard to mount. Mini is $149 direct as of Oct. 6, 2026 (Mobile Internet Resource Center); retailers still list $249. Rechecked Oct. 4, 2026, on the Mobile Internet Resource Center guide: 100GB about $55 and 300GB about $80 at home only; Unlimited about $175, 30 days abroad. Ocean Mode, past 12 nautical miles, is listed at $6 a gigabyte and stays on until switched off. Personal Maritime at $185 is a boat plan, not the van. No publisher affiliate. Service is on starlink.com." }, { "term": "Morning school", "fact": "Khan Academy: free math spine, not a full school. Khan World School: accredited 6-12, about $10,500/yr outside Arizona. Alpha School: $75,000 at the San Francisco campus; Founders School in New York $150,000. Alpha Anywhere: campus software at the table; new enrollments paused." }, { "term": "Law", "fact": "US: law of the state you are standing in (HSLDA). Colorado approved 14 of 54 publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs this summer; permanent rules go to the State Board on Oct. 15, with caps on paid field trips and weekly hours (Chalkbeat, Oct. 9). New York: Sen. Patricia Fahy filed bills to bar homeschooling by parents under child-abuse investigation and to review chronically absent children who leave (Daily Gazette, Oct. 6). Hillsboro, Oregon: a mother is suing after the district refused to reimburse Christian textbooks (WORLD, Sept. 29). Treasury proposed a federal scholarship credit starting Jan. 1, 2027; Secretary Scott Bessent said 30 states have opted in. Germany, Sweden: restricted or banned. Italy 2026: off-grid children ordered into public school." }, { "term": "Later", "fact": "Vocational two-years growing. Utah, Oct. 6: 8,055 people on technical college waitlists. Community colleges posting record falls (Texarkana, Johnston, Northwest Iowa). Jobs for the Future, Sept. 30: about 1.7 million skilled-trades openings a year, and about 55 prepared people for every 100 needed. Georgetown CEW for 10-year ROI. NSC for who actually enrolled." }, { "term": "In person", "fact": "After lessons, go outside. The $75,000 campus is still a building. The kitchen table is not." } ] }